


Where are we going, and why are we in this appendix?

by Nary



Category: Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Genre: Anachronistic, Comedy, Established Relationship, M/M, Meta, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-16
Updated: 2010-04-16
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gimli rolled over, the elven bed creaking beneath his bulk, and imagined living forever in a glorious world where all the shelves were too high and the chairs were built to support people a third of his weight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where are we going, and why are we in this appendix?

"It's sweet of you to invite me," said Gimli when Legolas first suggested the idea. "But."

"But what?"

Gimli fretted with his beard. "Well, it's not like you can send word that I'm coming. What if we get there and it's awkward?"

Legolas smiled reassuringly. "The Three Kindreds of the Eldar will welcome you as though you were my brother."

"…Yeah. About that. Did you ever tell your father about, ah, us?"

The elf looked momentarily abashed. "The right time never really came up."

"Right." He rolled over, the elven bed creaking beneath his bulk, and imagined living forever in a glorious world where all the shelves were too high and the chairs were built to support people a third of his weight. "You're going whether or not I come with you, aren't you," he said with a sigh.

"The sea-longing is upon me. I've already tarried here longer than I intended. For _some_ reason," he added pointedly, and planted a soft kiss on Gimli's cheek. And the dwarf could never say no to that face.

They journeyed toward the Grey Havens. Gimli took a side-trip to Michel Delving to stock up on ale, because who knew if those pointy-eared prats across the sea would have any? When he caught up with Legolas at Mithlond, the boat was already waiting for them. It looked awfully small and flimsy for an ocean-going craft, but then, Gimli would have been uncomfortable even in a mithril-reinforced supertanker.

"Do you like it?" Legolas asked hopefully. "I built it."

Somehow that didn't reassure him. "When did you become a shipwright?"

Legolas somehow managed to look affronted and conciliatory at the same time. "I have seen acorns grow into oaks, wither, and fall a hundred times or more. I've had time to study. Besides," he added, "Círdan gave me some pointers." The elven guy with the beard smiled and waved from over at the docks.

Gimli swallowed his anxiety and started loading the kegs. Legolas packed lembas. It was going to be a long trip.

Once he got over the sea-sickness, things improved somewhat. There were several very pleasant hours in there spent enjoying the steady motion of the waves as Legolas rode him, or simply lying together and watching the stars. It reminded him of the old days – well, not the _really_ old days, when they had to sneak off into the woods just to get a few moments alone, blasted hobbits everywere, but after the war, when they'd had what he privately thought of as their honeymoon, travelling to Aglarond and Fangorn and everywhere in between. He stroked Legolas's fine, smooth hair as it spilled across his chest, and was content.

At least until the cabin-fever set in. There was hardly room to walk five paces on the boat's meagre deck, and neither of them had ever much enjoyed confined spaces. Without meaning to, they began to grumble and snipe at one another. The final straw came when, in the middle of a leisurely blow-job, Legolas raised his head long enough to say, "Are you nervous about finally meeting my mother?" and Gimli simply lost it.

"By the name of Durin, why would you say that? Why would you even _say_ that?!"

Legolas's chin went up, a sign he was about to go all Serious and Elven. "It is a matter of concern to me, and I thought I might reassure you. But perhaps you do not wish to join with my family after all. Perhaps this whole voyage was a mistake."

Gimli winced. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, why _now_, of all the moments you could have chosen?"

To Legolas's credit, he looked pained too. "I admit I might have waited to bring it up."

Gimli softened. "We've waited for enough things in our lives. I mean, here we are, our love story stuffed into an appendix…"

"Don't take it personally," Legolas said with a wry look. "It happened to Arwen too."

"Aye, poor girl." He drew his lover down for an apologetic embrace. "I do want to meet them, and I _am_ nervous."

"It will be fine," Legolas reassured him.

A thought occurred to Gimli. "Say. Lady Galadriel will be there too, won't she?"

Legolas nodded, stroking him lightly to try and recapture the lost mood.

"So, if this is for all eternity... are we going to be exclusive, or what?"

The elf laughed and kissed him quiet again, and they let the waves rock them to sleep.


End file.
